Lexus launches LF-SA concept at Geneva: it’s small

Lexus arrived at the Geneva Auto Show with a number of cars. For the most part they’re what you’d expect from Toyota’s luxury division, except for the LF-SA. It’s small, very small.

According to Lexus, that doesn’t really matter though. The LF-SA concept, it says, is a driver-focused vehicle, and “the real driving experience will remain the ultimate luxury”.

Interestingly for a high-minded concept, the LF-SA doesn’t seem to have too many autonomous features. According to Lexus, that was a deliberate choice. The Japanese car maker claims that the LF-SA “explores a future in which Lexus drivers will still be able to enjoy the real life luxury of driving themselves, still enjoying the ultimate in on-board connectivity and safety”.

None of that however changes the fact that it really is ridiculously small. It’s less than 3.5 meters long, 1.7 meters wide and and 1.43 meters high.

Despite that, Lexus reckons the LF-SA has more than enough space on the inside. Given that the LF-SA is supposed to be a driver’s car, it should hardly be surprising that most of the interior focus has gone on the driver.

Rather than having a conventional driver’s seat that slides backwards and forwards, the seat is fixed in the LF-SA. Instead, pedals and steering wheel can be adjusted by the driver. This has the added advantage of giving the person sitting behind the driver (the LF-SA has a two plus two seating configuration) a guaranteed amount of legroom.

While Lexus said nothing about what kind of engine would drive a production version of the LF-SA, it would include some seriously high tech. The information system, it says, includes a hologram-style digital display incorporated in the instrument panel and a wide-angle Head-Up-Display.